On 1/27/06, Howard Brazee <howard at brazee.net> wrote: > I've always been puzzled by people who believe in reincarnation - if I > can't remember my past, and if whomever has my soul in the future can't > remember my present - what's the difference between that and being three > different people? With this in mind, I look at characters we have met > in the Halls. I haven't seen that they are multiple people - from > their various life times. Has Steve mentioned what reincarnation > means in his world? I have to agree with you about reincarnation--in my mind, it must be less a belief per se about a factual occurrence than a perspective about what constitutes identity. And of course, if you allow your sense of "me" to encompass other beings, who's to say that they can't exist concurrently? If it tickles your aesthetic fancy to believe that all humans are serial reincarnations of the only human who ever lived (or lives), who am I to gainsay you? It appears to be indistinguishable in practical terms from no belief in reincarnation at all, although the aesthetics might inspire you to be a little kinder to other people (or just the opposite). Fortunately, Vlad's experience appears to be a little less mystical. At minimum, reincarnation brings certain "genes" with it, apparently personality traits (at least Sethra thinks so about Vlad/Dolivar), and perhaps latent memories (Sethra offers to re-awaken Vlad's past memories, not implant them). "Reincarnation" in the Brustiverse has an objective reality. Max -- Be pretty if you are, Be witty if you can, But be cheerful if it kills you.